Sex,Celibacy,andDevianceisthefirstmajorstudytoexploretheSongofSongs(orSongofSolomon)inVictorianliteratureandart.AstheBible’sonlyeroticpoem,theSongofSongsisthecanonicalJudeo-Christianbookaboutlove,furnishingtheVictorianswithanauthoritativeandliterarylanguageforlove,marriage,sex,mourning,andreligiouscelibacy.DucDauadoptsaqueerandfeministlenstoconsiderhowVictoriansemployedandinterpretedtheSongofSongsintheirwork.Howdidwritersandartistsfashionand,mostimportantly,challengethenormsofgender,romanticlove,andmarriage?SpanningtheearlyVictorianerathroughthefirsttwodecadesofthetwentiethcentury,Sex,Celibacy,andDevianceconsiderstheworksofCharlotteBront禱,ThomasHardy,ChristinaRossetti,JohnGray,MichaelField,EdwardBurne-Jones,andSimeonSolomonalongsidetwolesser-knownfigures:Irish-bornScottishartistPhoebeAnnaTraquairandtheCatholicreligiousleaderAugustaTheodosiaDrane.ByaddressingtherelevanceoftheSongofSongsinlightofshiftingandconflictingreligiousandsocialcontexts,DauprovidesafreshperspectiveonVictorianliterature,religion,andculture.
